


The Oath

by Thorns_of_a_Rose



Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angsty Bees, F/F, F/M, Multi, Post-Volume 4 (RWBY), Pyrrha's got family, Slight Canon Divergence, There will be more OC's
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-02
Updated: 2017-10-15
Packaged: 2019-01-08 00:20:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,788
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12243450
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thorns_of_a_Rose/pseuds/Thorns_of_a_Rose
Summary: Team RNJR's in arrival Mistral attracts some friends of Ruby's.As the rest of Team RWBY arrives, the seven decide to make a promise to those lost at the Vytal Festival, with a little help from some friends, and an entire school, willing to fight back.Nikos Nemia





	1. Chapter 1: Arrival

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Directly after the defeat of the Nuckaluvee, RNJR finds themselves at Haven Academy at the request of an old friend.

“You have to let me in,” Ruby shouted, “He’s my uncle.”  
The pilot sighed, when he picked up four kids and a ragged old man, he didn’t expect them to be these four. Ruby Rose, Jaune Arc, Lie Ren, and Nora Valkyrie had been out in the wilderness for months, only recently joined by Ruby’s uncle, Qrow Branwen, who had suffered injuries and an almost lethal dose of venom from some scorpion Faunas they had encountered, and it was what had put the grizzled Huntsman in the medical wing of their base, where doctors asked that everyone else not disturb them while they tried to save Qrow.  
“Look, kid,” the pilot said, “I’m just telling you what Doc said, he doesn’t want any disturbances, so until you’re uncle’s at least stable and that poison is out of his system, you four are just going to have to wait, not much else we can do.”  
Ruby opened her mouth to argue, only to be stopped when Jaune put on his hand on her shoulder.  
“He’s right, Ruby,” he said, “I know how much Qrow means to you, but we can’t help them, they are going to do their best, but until we get word otherwise, we are just going have to wait.”

Ruby looked between the other three, she could see the worry in their eyes, reluctantly, she threw her arms in defeat, heading away from the medical wing, following the pilot who ended up taking them back towards the hanger, explaining something along the way.  
“Look, just because your uncle’s unable to help you right now, doesn’t mean you guys can’t get a head-start on whatever you came here for, and fortunately for you four, I know a few people who would be more willing to help,” The pilot then turned, an odd grin on his face, like he knew something that they didn’t, “Maybe some people who missed you, huh, Red?”  
Before any member of Team RNJR could ask him what he meant, he started talking to his co-pilot, who was busy refueling their ship.  
“Mizayaki,” he shouted, “we ready to fly yet?”  
“Almost done, Samuel,” she replied, a smile shining through the sweat and grime on her face, “Just a couple more minutes of fueling and then we got to do the flight check.”  
“I’ll get started on that,” Samuel said, before turning to Team RNJR, “Alright you four, load up, next stop, Haven Academy!”

 

* * *

 

The four sat in the belly of the craft after it had taken off, looking over the city below them, Nora leaning on Ren’s shoulder, the two surprisingly close after the incident earlier in the day. The four of them were still sort of recovering the battle with the Nuckaluvee, the name one of the pilots had given the beast, saying it had been a scourge to the surrounding area for as long as anyone could remember, it was actually the reason Rescue Flight had been formed, a special division of Mistral’s military, specializing in getting people out of the path of the Nuckaluvee and other Grimm in the area, the group had formed shortly after incident in Kuroyuri, and had saved thousands since, Samuel, Mizayaki, and another pair had been out on patrol when they spotted the aftermath of the fight, originally looking for survivors, but seeing the four had actually killed the beast, they had been stunned, they weren’t even phased when Ruby had dragged her uncle onto the ship.

After several minutes of flying, Samuel came back, talking over the wind, he asked a question they still weren’t ready to answer, none of them truly ready to talk about that night.  
“She’s not really gone, is she? The rumors aren’t true, are they, she just has a broken leg or something, she survived, she had too,” her name was never said, but everyone knew who he was talking about, she had given it all to try and stop Cinder, and in some way she had, at the cost of her own life, Pyrrha Nikos had helped defeat Cinder, mitigating the damage that would have been caused that night, her sacrifice had saved them all, it didn’t make them feel any less guilty.  
After several seconds of silence, all of them heard a small voice, just barely over the wind.  
“I’m sorry,” Ruby said through tears, out of all of them, she actually was hurt the most, despite the fact that she was never her teammate, Ruby had been the one to watch Pyrrha die, and even though she couldn’t have truly done anything, she still had nightmares about that moment.  
Jaune put his hand on her shoulder, “It’s not your fault”, Ruby, he said softly, trying to comfort her, as he was also hurting ever since Pyrrha’s death, but his pain was for a different reason, “She knew what she was doing, none of us could have stopped her, even if we wanted too.”  
Samuel sighed, “Fuck…sorry, it’s just hard to accept that she’s gone, while most of us never truly knew her, this entire kingdom loved her, she was Mistral’s Star, and just knowing she’s gone…it’s hard.”  
“We’re almost there,” Miza called from the cockpit, snapping Samuel out his solemnness.  
“Right,” he said, heading for the cockpit, “Everyone please grab something to ensure you don’t fall off as we come in for landing. Thank you for riding Rescue Airlines, welcome to Haven Academy.”

 

* * *

 

The academy was beautiful, Beacon had been a shining light for all who wished to enter it, this place felt like a last bastion, the four, despite the edge they were feeling from everything that had happened in recent weeks felt safe, the looming building not intimidating in the slightest, instead seeming like shelter, a safe haven if you will.  
“So who exactly is here to see us,” Jaune asked as the four unloaded.  
“The headmaster,” Ren suggested, “it would make sense, he would be the logical next step in people who could help us.”  
“Or maybe it’s some super-secret contact of Qrow’s who knows everything and everyone,” Nora piped up.  
“That would be cool,” Jaune said in agreement, “But doubtful.”  
“Actually,” Samuel said, the pilot stepping out quickly to talk to the four, “It’s someone who’s closer to your little rose than her uncle.”  
Before Ruby could even ask again, she heard someone yelling from behind her.  
“Leonard,” a distinctly female voice called out, “slow down.”

Next thing Ruby knew, she was being picked up and spun around, a male voice in her ear. She could feel the tears running down his face as they landed on her face and shoulder, the figure squeezing her around her waist.  
“Oh Dust, you’re okay, you’re okay, you’re okay, you’re okay,” he kept repeating it as he slowed down, now squeezing her tightly and crying into her shoulder.  
“Leonard,” the female voice said again, the person attached walking up, long red hair cascading down her back, a couple of loose ponytails keeping it from being a complete mess, wrapped in a large coat despite it being the middle of summer, “She’s okay now, but you’re going to break her if you keep squeezing her like that.”  
“Sorry, sorry,” Leonard apologized, finally letting everyone get a good look at him, a short mess of dark brown hair on his head, putting his forehead up against Ruby’s she saw his eyes, a gold she hadn’t seen a couple of years, but with everything that happened recently, it felt like a lifetime.  
Leonard looked her in the eyes, trying his hardest to stop crying while he spoke, “Ruby Rose, don’t you ever do something that stupid ever again, you’ve had me worried sick for the last nine months, please, you and your sister are going to give me an aneurysm if you keep this up,” he finished, before kissing the young girl on the forehead.  
“I missed you to cuz’,” Ruby replied, her voice a little strained, “but can you please let me go, you’re squeezing me really hard right now.”  
“Oh right,” Leonard said, loosening his hold on her, “It’s just, I’ve missed you so much, when Neptune and the rest told us everything that happened at Beacon, we were worried sick, you actually missed it, Elizabeth cried more than I did when we first got the news.”  
Elizabeth slugged him in the shoulder, Leonard wincing a little bit, but only because he knew he had it coming.

While all this went down, the rest of team RNJR just stared at the events going down.  
“Wait,” Nora chirped, the first of the three to speak, “You had a cousin all this time and you didn’t tell us!”  
Leonard smirked, “Well we’re not actually related, our parents are old friends from Beacon, I’ve known this little troublemaker her entire life,” he said, tousling Ruby’s hair for good measure.

“Honestly, Leonard,” Samuel said from behind the entirety of Team RNJR, “You are not going to believe the adventure these four have had, but kids, if you don’t mind, I’d like to be the one to tell Leonard the news,” his tone turned hard as he finished, trying to steel himself for what he was about to say.  
Leonard looked at Samuel, he saw the hardness in the other man’s features, Leonard knew what his face looked like, ‘please no, not her.’  
“She’s gone, Leonard,” Samuel said, Leonard knew who he was talking about, “She’s not coming back.”  
“Oh shit,” Leonard said softly, now staring at the ground.  
“Leonard,” Elizabeth said, slightly scolding him.  
“You know how he gets when it comes to her,” Leonard snapped back.  
“Uh, what are you guys talking about,” asked a confused Jaune.  
“Oh Dust,” Elizabeth breathed out, “She never told you.”  
“Told us what,” asked Jaune.  
Leonard sighed, “We’ll explain on the way back to our dorm. Samuel, how’s the rest of your squad?”  
“Lena still doesn’t have her semblance under control, Em refuses to leave her alone,” Samuel explained, “One of the tech guys said Winston might have something that can help her, but at the moment, all we can really do is sit and wait.”  
“And long is the wait,” Leonard muttered, before saying his goodbyes to Samuel and Mizayaki, walking back towards the dorms, Elizabeth and Team RNJR following him.

“So what were you talking about earlier,” Jaune asked again, as Leonard had gotten quiet on the walk back.  
“Oh yeah,” Elizabeth said, grabbing Leonard’s shoulder, “Pyrrha’s older brother, he’s on mission right now. Team JOLT should be back in a couple weeks, but for now we can at least explain how the rest of us got to know Pyrrha.”  
Leonard chuckled, but any emotion never reached his eyes, “That was a wild summer. It all started after the Vytal Festival our first year, the Mistral Regional Tournament was starting up in a couple weeks, the rest of us watched some of the early rounds, but the finals for the tourney had been sold out for months, probably before the Vytal Festival had gotten started, we were all bummed out because throughout the entire tourney, we had been following her, Pyrrha Nikos. It was her fifth year participating, she had won her last three tourneys, she was looking to beat out the previous record holder with a win this year, needless to say, like anyone who’s ever seen her fight, we were enamored, so not being able to see the finals in person had us bummed out. A week before the finals, her brother asks if anyone wants to go to the finals, we’re trying to explain that tickets are sold out when he pulls out twelve tickets, front row, at the time we didn’t even question how he got them, we were all just too excited. So on the day of the tourney, we’re all there, watching her in action, it was amazing, an absolutely beautiful performance. After the match, he surprised us again with the fact that our tickets were VIP passes, we were going to meet her in person. He made us wait until everyone else had talked to her, and then just casually introduced to her,” Leonard recalled these events like they were yesterday, the entire day had felt so surreal, he had just walked in with them, he remembered Orion’s jaw dropping and just the collective ‘what’ everyone had nearly screamed when he explained his relationship with Pyrrha, in hindsight, the fact they shared a last name should’ve raised some questions, but for some reason, it never did, “That summer was spent with training sessions, adventures in Mistral’s underworld, parties with the high society, and everything in between. We became a small extended family for her, so when everyone came back from the festival, and Neptune told us what happened, none of us could believe it, Pyrrha’s brother actually disappeared for three days, his partner found him crying in their dorm afterwards, we’re still not sure where he went, he never told anyone. We’ve all been kind of edge ever since, several of us want to believe she’s alive somewhere, but deep down, I think we all knew that she was gone.”  
They were silent the rest of the walk, reaching the dorm room for Team BLZE, Elizabeth decided to speak up.  
“Sorry for laying all that on you guys right out of the gate,” she said, “Now, what kind of adventure have you four been on.”

 

* * *

 

“You killed the what,” the girl shouting was in shock, the entire room felt like it was heating up with the girl’s emotions, as if her shock and rage were activating something inside her.  
“Winfrey, please,” her partner was trying to calm her down, Ruby recognized him as Orion Vagasada, one of Leonard’s friends from Signal, and by association a friend of her’s, she had forgotten that when Leonard and Elizabeth went to Haven, Orion and Braxton had gone too.  
“There’s no way they were able to defeat the Nuckaluvee,” Winfrey continued to shout, “That thing’s killed more than the Great War did, there is no way a bunch of first years were able to kill something that has decimated teams of fully-trained huntsmen and huntresses in the past. There’s no way, no way.”  
Winfrey was in tears at this point, unable to truly contain herself, Orion ended up leading her outside of the room, most likely to calm down.  
“Winfrey’s got some history with that monster,” one of the three people Ruby didn’t recognize explained, her eyes reminded Ruby of her partner, but there was something different about them, none of the cold that was constantly in her stare, these looked softer, it was a little unsettling for Ruby, “Her father died fighting that Grimm when she was a child, one of the reasons she became a huntress was to avenge her father’s death. She’s not actually angry at you, it’s just that she wanted to be the one to avenge her father, surely you understand?”  
“We do,” said Nora, clutching Ren’s hand, both of them still shaken by everything that had occurred recently.  
“More than you know,” finished her partner, kissing her on the head, Nora giggled, she only use to dream about this, and even though it had only been a day, it made her all jittery.

“Well then,” Leonard piped out, snapping all of them back to reality, “Now that’s over, maybe we should introduce ourselves?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, so I got myself back to life, to make a more canon-based story, my OC's are still here, this time with connections to Pyrrha Nikos and her older sibling.
> 
> Also, this time on the reference spotting game, find the origin of the rest of Samuel's team, Team SMLE.


	2. Chapter 2: An Introduction to Family

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Team RNJR officially meets Team BLZE and Team SNOW and a lonely friend finds her way back to her partner and an unexpected surprise.

“Introductions” Ruby repeated, a questioning look on her face, “But I know half the people in this room.”  
Braxton chuckled at that remark, but was silenced by a stern look from Leonard.  
“You do,” Leonard said in confirmation, “but the rest of your friends don’t, besides, Nora looks like she’s going to explode if she doesn’t ask her question.”  
Ruby glanced at Nora, whose eyes were darting between Braxton’s second set of ears and Zinnea’s wings.  
Ruby sighed, “Fine, it would be nice to meet the rest of your friends.”  
“Awesome.”

The conversation continued with the introductions of Team BLZE, Braxton Wildclaw, Leonard Thorn, Zinnea Draconov, and Elizabeth Pavlichenko. Before the first half of Team SNOW could start introducing themselves, Nora piped up with a question that both Braxton and Zinnea were expecting.  
“What kind of Faunas are you two?”  
Braxton sighed, “Panda, and yes, that means I eat bamboo, I still don’t understand why people feel it necessary to ask that.”  
“Hey, at least they don’t ask you if your Faunas trait is real,” Zinnea chimed in, flourishing her wings as she spoke, “Yes, they’re real, what else do you expect from a dragon Faunas. Some days I wish I got a tail, or horns like my great-granddad, I bet he never got questions about his trait.”  
“Oh please,” said Leonard with a chuckle, “We all know you love flying too much to give up your wings.”  
“You can fly,” Ruby exclaimed, her eyes lighting up in the same way whenever she saw a cool weapon, “That’s so cool!”  
Everyone laughed, Leonard giving a knowing wink at the dragon Faunas, they had a talk about this in the past, when they had first met, Leonard had compared Zinnea and Yang in personality; that comment had led to a long conversation about everyone’s siblings and ‘family’, from Elizabeth’s little twins siblings, to Zinnea’s family back in Vacuo, as well as Ruby and Yang.

At that moment the door to the room opened, Orion and Winfrey walked back in. Winfrey went to apologize, only for one of the two girls to stop her.  
“Winfrey, sweetie,” The girl spoke in a soft tone, “I know you want to apologize, but can we at least introduce ourselves first.”  
Team SNOW, Samantha White, Natalia Tisoki, Orion Vagasada, and Winfrey Heather Stoker, the former two being an interesting combination, Samantha being the heiress to White Enterprises while Natalia was the daughter of one of Mistral’s leading crime families, the Tisokis. They both that they had connections, if their help was needed, Jaune said they would consider it.  
Winfrey then decided apologize, “I’m sorry about my reaction, it’s just…” she trailed off, but everyone understood.  
“It’s fine,” Ren reassured her, “You’re not the only one who wanted that monster dead,” his tone was cold, Winfrey looked up to see the look in his eyes, a mix determination and relief, like his mission was finally over. Winfrey realized something in that moment, he was from one of the villages destroyed by the Nuckaluvee, if she had wanted vengeance for her father, he wanted it for not just his family, but everyone ever hurt by that monster. All she could do is nod in acceptance.

The eight talked for a few hours until Ruby couldn’t contain it any longer, the more she talked to Samantha, the more she was reminded of her partner, it was mostly the eyes, something she had always loved about Weiss, that blue expanse that reminded her of summer skies and open waters. She found herself staring, remembering all the good times she had with her partner.

“Ruby,” Leonard’s voice snapping her out of her memories, “You’re staring, and she has definitely noticed.”  
Ruby’s eyes widened, before she could even try to spout off an apology, Samantha chuckled.  
“Its fine,” she said, “I can only assume you had a question, unless I just look that good, which in that case, I should remind you, I’m taken.”  
“No, no, no,” Ruby quickly responded, before saying what was on her mind, “It’s just, your eyes, they remind of my partner.”  
Samantha chuckled again, almost as if she expected that answer, “Yea, Natalia said the same thing on our first date. What were your words, ‘A little like a cold Schnee’?”  
Natalia immediately started an argument, “To be fair, I didn’t know at the time, I only learned afterwards.”  
“True, but alas, I guess I should say it now, going to have to tell her later, but since her partner’s already here,” Samantha paused, before asking a question Ruby felt was a little odd, “How much do you know about the Schnee family, like the actual family?”  
“Besides Winter and the fact Weiss severely dislikes her father, not much,” Ruby hated that admission a little, but then again, family and the past were touchy subjects for all of Team RWBY.  
Samantha raised her eyebrow at the Winter part, though it did make sense since General Ironwood was at the festival.  
“Alright then,” she said, “Well, consider me extended family for your partner,” the collective jaws of Team RNJR dropped, but before anyone could say anything, Samantha continued, “A lot of people know about the wife of Jacques Schnee, Willow Schnee being the eldest daughter of Nicholas Schnee, but he had two daughters, the younger one being Winona Schnee, who about the time Willow and Jacques met, she met my father, Martin White, heir to White Enterprises, the two soon married, and had me. Basically, I’m the Schnee’s cousin, but I’ve never spoken with Weiss, or anyone else, only Winter knows and that’s because she’s stationed in Mistral right now.”

The group was silent for several seconds, that silence interrupted by the growling stomachs of Team RNJR.  
Leonard chuckled, “Alright you four, let’s go get something to eat, there’s a place near the school that I think might be better than ‘A Simple Wok’.”  
Ruby gave him a very skeptical look, which caused Leonard to roll his eyes back at her.  
“Oh come on, I said ‘I think’, that doesn’t mean it is better, I’m just saying you should try it.”

As the three teams made their way towards the eatery, Leonard’s scroll dinged, it was a message from Samuel.  
“Oh, Samuel says your uncle should be better in a few hours,” Leonard explained, “He also suggests shacking up in one of the hotels near the school. We can worry about that later, for now, our only worry is noodles.”  
“Noodles,” Ruby cheered loudly, causing everyone else to laugh.

 

* * *

 

_One week later_

A girl finds herself staring up at the towers of Haven, she had been told that there was supposed to be someone she needed to talk. With a school this big though, she had no idea even where to start.  
“Of all the times you had to give cryptic advice,” she complained to herself, her sister was someone who was always straight to the point, this cryptic comment meant either she had been away longer than she thought or that whoever she was supposed to be meeting had asked this of her sister, there were very few people she would do this for, so that made this a matter of why.  
“Are you lost,” asked a voice, most likely a student; turning she saw a young man, short, dark hair swept to one side. The girl sighed, of course the first person she ran into would be some pompous brat, naturally she would have to play along until she ran into someone she recognized, considering where she was, it wouldn’t be too hard to find someone who was at the Fall, as long as it was no one from Team CRME, she would be good.  
“A little,” she said, “I’m looking for someone, but I have no idea where to begin.”  
“Well, the least I can do is give you a tour of the school,” the boy said, offering his hand, “We’ll likely run into them along the way, if they’re half as beautiful as you are, we should find them no time.”  
The girl blushed a little, she appreciated the comment, she just wish it had come from someone else. With everything that had happened in the last nine or so months, she wanted to see her partner more than anything right now.  
“Deacon,” a loud voice called out, turning around the girl saw a behemoth of a man, he was at least 6 and a half feet, towering over herself and the boy next to her, his short-ish gray hair blowing in the wind, “Are you seriously doing this, you know how she’s going to feel about this if she finds out.”  
“What are you suggesting, Orion,” Deacon stuttered out, obviously intimidated by the giant glowering at him, “I was just offering to give her a tour of the school.”  
“We both know who she is,” Orion scoffed, “So do yourself a favor and don’t bother. Why don’t you go bother someone on the streets, maybe out there they’ll at least tolerate you?”  
Deacon growled, but left anyways, leaving the girl with the giant that now loomed over her, but instead of any hard stares or odd looks she could’ve gotten, she found a warm smile on his face, similar to the one her partner wore a lot.  
“Come on, Ice Queen,” the giant said, earning a glare from the girl, “There’s someone who wants to see you, ok, more like someones, but I don’t know if they’re here yet. Honestly that girl is a freaking mini-Leonard sometimes, sleeping in when there’s nothing to do.”  
The Ice Queen perked up at the last sentence from the giant.  
‘Ruby,’ she thought.

 

 

* * *

 

“I still don’t understand why you two were worried.”  
Leonard quirked his eyebrows up at Braxton’s statement, “What do you mean,” he asked.  
“Well, Elizabeth’s gift means you knew they were coming, you just didn’t know when,” Braxton pointed out, “The way you two were acting some days, it was like you thought they weren’t going to make it.”  
At that moment, Jaune perked up from his cards, saying his turn was over, “Also, excuse me?”  
Leonard had invited everyone over to play a few rounds of ‘Ritual’ EDH, Ruby knew about the game, but much like Yang, she didn’t have the patience to properly learn it. So now here she was, staring at her hand as she didn’t know what to do with it, fortunately Leonard had handed her one of the more basic decks in his arsenal, but it didn’t help that she still wasn’t sure what she was doing. She had already noticed Leonard and Samantha had gotten texts earlier, she hoped it was something or someone important.  
“Oh yea,” Leonard said, snapping Ruby out of her thoughts “We didn’t tell them about that. I really don’t know if this is on us or Ruby for this lack of info.”  
“Considering I was fighting to survive out there, I think it’s on you two,” Ruby retorted, before going to her turn.”  
Leonard sighed, “Fine, got me there, babe, you want to explain it since it is your ‘gift’.”  
Elizabeth glared at Leonard, who kind of ignored it.  
“Yea,” she said, “The visions, it’s been a gift in my family for a long time, every few generations, the first born gets it, there’s always some stipulation, my great-grandmother could only see what kind of person you would be when you died, one of my ancestors could see your soulmate, but couldn’t tell you their name or where you would meet, she could only tell you what they were like, and then there’s me, who gets cryptic dreams, and I have to figure out what they mean. The last one was three weeks ago, of a silver-eyed ranger cloaked in red with the head of a monster and the sash of a fallen warrior on their belt.”  
“That’s your semblance,” asked a curious Jaune, “That sounds a little rough.”  
“No,” replied Elizabeth, “My semblance is something…else.”  
Ruby shuddered, remembering the last time Elizabeth used her semblance on her, though to be fair, the headache it caused was better than almost falling down that flight of stairs.

A knock on the door got all of their attention, Natalia looking at her watch to check the time.  
“Odd,” she mused, “Orion’s back from his run early.”  
“Wonder what’s up,” Winfrey said quietly, causing Leonard to shrug.  
Orion opened door to 11 confused faces, “Yo red,” he said, looking at Ruby, “I believe this one’s with you,” then turning to someone in the hall, “Well, come on then, you missed her, didn’t you?”  
Orion stepped aside to let a short girl in, her long, white hair wrapped up in an off-center ponytail, a white-blue dress upon her body, carrying only two suitcases, a far cry from what she had at Beacon, but after everything, Ruby was just ecstatic to see her again.  
“Weiss,” she whispered loudly, causing their eyes to meet, silver staring into bright blue, before anyone watching knew what was happening, a blur of red and rose petals tackled the heiress to the ground.  
“I missed you, I missed you so much,” Ruby cried softly, arms wrapping around the stunned heiress, blush creeping up her face that only grew when Ruby placed a quick kiss on her cheek.  
Leonard noticed that, as well as the stare on Samantha’s face and decided to give the head of Team SNOW some time with her cousin.  
“Alright everyone,” he said loudly, “I think we need to give some of the people in here a little space,” he paused to look at Natalia, a silent question asked, the underworld heiress nodding in answer, “Alright then, Rubes, Ice Queen, it seems like you two have a lot to catch up on, but first, a surprise.”

Leonard’s wink at Ruby unsettled Weiss a bit, the heiress hadn’t seen her partner in almost a year and she didn’t know how long Ruby had been here. She had no idea who any of these people, but she couldn’t imagine Ruby could be convinced to hurt her, could she? Weiss shook her head, still fuzzy since the kiss and the fact that she had been bothered by everything that had happened in her final weeks in the hellhole she called home. She snapped to reality when she heard the door close, realizing Ruby was sitting so close to her.  
“So,” Samantha said, giving Weiss a much needed distraction from how close her partner was.  
“Yea,” Ruby said, blushing and nervously rubbing the back of her head, “You should be the one to tell her, this is your family after all.”  
Weiss was confused again as Samantha spoke.  
“I really don’t know how to explain it,” she said, “I mean, I always thought Grandpa Nicholas told you, but after talking to your sister, it seems my assumption was wrong. So allow me to properly introduce myself, Samantha White, heiress to White Enterprises and your cousin.”  
Weiss was in shock, her cousin, she always thought her parents were only children, she knew her father was, but the few times she visited her aging grandfather, Nicholas Schnee, it always seemed like he wanted to tell her something, but didn’t know how, Weiss always assumed it was something mundane, she loved her grandfather, but he did have a tendency to ramble about the good old days and stuff like that, he had mentioned a Winona in the past, but she always assumed that they were a cousin or something. Weiss could barely process this information before her mind starting giving her the worst-case scenario, the idea caused her to cry without even thinking about it.  
“I know it’s a lot to take in,” Natalia said, trying to comfort her girlfriend’s cousin, “but we’re here for you.”  
“Please don’t make me go back,” was all Weiss could manage, her voice weak.  
Samantha’s eyes widened when she heard what Weiss said, she had heard the horror stories from Winter, but she didn’t realize what her younger cousin had gone through recently.  
“Oh sweetie,” she whispered, getting up to wrap Weiss in a hug, Ruby and Natalia soon joining her, “I’d never do that, you can stay here as long as you need. I’ll try and actually introduce you to aunt and uncle at some point. For now, just stay safe, pretty certain Winter would kill both of us if you somehow got hurt.”  
Weiss weakly chuckled, wiping the tears from her eyes as the three girls pulled away, Ruby still holding her right hand. Weiss didn’t care though, right now she needed someone to hold to.

 

* * *

 

_Team BLZE’s Dorm_

“So where is everyone,” Jaune asked, the campus was surprisingly empty considering this was a huntsman training academy.  
“The school’s technically closed right now,” Leonard explained, his eyes not leaving his cards as he spoke, “Professor Lionheart is probably better to explain this than any of us, but long story short, the only two adults on campus right now are the headmaster and Professor Hood, who’s been mission coordinator for the few teams who wanted to stay, which is basically the twelve of us, BLZE, SNOW, and JOLT. Ok ‘wanted’ is a strong word, everyone on these teams are either locals or from…” Leonard fell silent as the three outsiders realized what he meant, after a few seconds he continued, “You can’t exactly go home to something not even there…I’m still pissed Lionheart asked us to stay back from the last festival, if any of us had been there…”  
Elizabeth put a hand on her partner’s shoulder, silencing the young man, his hands still shaking, the silence saying more than needed.

 

* * *

 

_A week later_

A loud knock sounded on Team BLZE’s dorm, stirring Leonard from his sleep, looking around he saw Zinnea and Braxton passed out in Z’s bed, suspended from the ceiling, Leonard never totally understood why she felt comfortable with that kind of bed, but she always gave her an excuse to stretch her wings. It was days like this when he kind of disliked them for having this arrangement, Leonard Thorn was not a morning person, but since Braxton and Zinnea were basically cuddled up on a suspended bed, it meant that either him or Elizabeth had to answer the odd knocks in the early morning, and with Elizabeth still passed out, her hair an absolute mess as usual, Leonard was the one answering the door. Getting out of the bed he shared with his partner, Elizabeth, he threw on a shirt and answered the door.  
“You better have a good fucking excuse for this,” he mumbled, before realizing who he was talking to, the two eyes, the left a piercing emerald, the other a blood ruby, connected to the one person he really should’ve expected.  
“Where are they,” the figure growled.  
“It’s 8 am, Janus,” Leonard grumbled, “Did you four seriously just get back?”  
“I asked where they are,” Janus kept his voice low to keep from waking the others.  
“Fine,” Leonard groaned, “I’ll send Rubes a text, but they’re probably asleep, go relax for a bit, you need it.”  
Janus Nikos stomped off as Leonard sent the text;  
“So JOLT’s back, you four may want to brace yourselves for this one.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Team JOLT won't be fully introduced until the next chapter, which I'm not going to post until after I've completed Volume 4 of Scattered Petals, so please enjoy the short introduction to Pyrrha's older brother, Janus Nikos, who has a weird version of heterochromia, it has to do with his Semblance, but long story short, one of his eyes is the same color as Pyrrha's the other is red...which will be explained, later.
> 
> Also, this entire chapter is sort of spoilers for Scattered Petals;  
> Winona Schnee White, mother of Samantha White, wife of Martin White, younger daughter of Nicholas Schnee, Weiss, Winter, and Shitley Schnee's aunt. Making Samantha their cousin... and yes, I want this(or something similar) to be canon, I just feel like there needs to be someone other than Winter to good on the Schnee family name, even if they don't have it as their last name.

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer; With the exception of my OC's(labeled as such) the RWBY series, as well as many of the characters in this story are property of Rooster Teeth and Monty Oum.
> 
> If you wish to get to know the characters of this story more, check out my tumblr, [RWBY-Scattered Petals-AU](https://scatteredpetals-au.tumblr.com) for more. Thank you all.


End file.
